KARACHI, June 20: Director General, Gwadar Development Authority (GDA), Ahmed Bakhsh Lehri has said that several infrastructure projects at Gwadar are under way, which includes 950-km-long railway and 900-km-long motorway.

The GDA had issued 30 NOCs for residential, industrial and entertainment schemes, he said adding that the provincial government had 1,000 acres of land in the area which would be developed by the private sector. Gwadar had developed the facility to receive 30 mw of electricity from Iran and another 20 mw was promised.

Talking to the FPCCI members, who met under the chairmanship of former FPCCI president, Tariq Saeed, the GDA DG urged the private sector companies to take interest in the mono-rail and desalination projects in Gwadar.

He said the provincial government had an office in Karachi, which received applications for allotment of plots in the industrial estates. So far, 129 plots had been distributed and another 400 applications were being processed, says a press release of the FPCCI.

Lehri said that the land in the area mostly belongs to the private people. If the government had acquired land before the announcement of development of Gwadar Port it could have easily purchased land at Rs5,000 per acre but now the prices have shot up to Rs200 million per acre.

He said the GDA issued NOC to the party that possessed land, had viable development plan, gave bank guarantee worth 30 per cent of saleable cost of plot and time limit of three years for completion of the project.